martes, 22 de noviembre de 2011

Talking Barca 7 - Real Zaragoza, AC Milan and Getafe CF

In Talking Barça 7, Nic and Simon use the game against Real Zaragoza to reach some very positive conclusions about the depth of the current squad, Madrid's victory over Valencia was definitely a black spot on the horizon but we look forward to the Champions League tie against AC Milan with confidence. Next weekend's match against Getafe shouldn't cause any surprises, but it's not a good idea to be over confident when playing theoretically weaker sides.

FC Barcelona v Real Zaragoza

Apart from the convincing 4-0 victory, one of the best things about the game against Zaragoza was the return of Gerard Piqué, who we've been quite critical of in recent conversations. Not only did he score the first goal but he also had a great game alongside Carles Puyol, who also got on the score sheet.

The importance of the centre backs being able to come up for set pieces adds an important dimension to Barça's game, and the great thing is that the alternative to Puyol and Piqué - Abidal and Mascherano - is also a world class combination.

Against Zaragoza, the strength of this FC Barcelona squad came across very strongly. In the second half, Iniesta and Thiago came on for Xavi and Cesc and David Villa substituted Alexis - We have two world class players for almost every position.

We were also pleased with the performance of the theoretically 'lesser' players such as Maxwell, Cuenca and Keita. The fact that Busquets didn't play was hardly noticed.

The whole team played at a competent level and we won 4-nil without having to put on a show of excellence - this can't be bad!

Valencia v Real Madrid

In his typically provacative way, Simon has been arguing on the Internet with people from table-tennis-playing countries who think that the Liga is boring because Barça and Madrid always win 4-0.

This was true in Barça's case but not in Madrid's, who played a head-to-head tussle in Mestalla and left with the three points. Nic suggests that, as we mentioned last week, English football is very popular in Asia owing to the early kick-off times.

On the subject of English football, it's obvious that Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo learnt a lot during their time in the Premier League, and this Real Madrid's exciting, physical football is probably the only blot on an otherwise clear FC Barcelona horizon.

They played a particularly impressive first half against a Valencia side that was unable to slow down their game in midfield. In the forthcoming, Clásico in the Bernabéu, Barça's job will be just that - slowing down the game and keeping possession of the ball in the creation zone.

The second half of the match in Mestalla was all thrills and spills, with an excellent Soldado putting away two to make the score 2-3 going into extra time. Had the ref seen Higuaín's blatant hand ball in the Madrid box in the 93rd minute, we could have been on our way to La Castellana on equal points.

AC Milan v FC Barcelona

Both of us are looking forward to a cracking game in San Siro against an AC Milan that's put together a series of six consecutive home wins.

With the likes of Pato, Seedorf and Thiago Silva in the Milan line-up, it's going to be a great game, but although Barça have to go for a win if only for a question of prestige, finishing first or second in this season's Champions League is of little consequence. The top team could well end up playing against Manchester United, Manchester City, CSKA, Benfica, Ajax or Leverkusen.

We've talked enough about the 'big-nosed idiot' in recent Talking Barça's so we decided to concentrate on Pato as the big danger in the Milan attack. He's back from a two-month injury stretch and looked particularly dangerous in the 10 minutes he played against Fiorentina on Saturday.

We wind this week's Talking Barrça with a quick look at the Getafe game next weekend. They're just above the relegation zone, lost to Sporting this weekend but it doesn't pay to be over-confident when playing pesky sides like Geta.